WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1714/97 by Hiltrud BREYER to the Commission. Electricity Grid Feed Act
Date: 1997-05-23
Institutions: BREYER, European Parliament
Subjects: Germany, competition law, consumer price, electrical energy, electricity supply, energy policy, environmental protection, production cost, renewable energy, wind energy

C 45/86

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

10. 2. 98

(98/C 45/105)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1714/97

by Hiltrud Breyer (V) to the Commission

(23 May 1997)

Subject: Electricity Grid Feed Act

Renewable energy is extremely important from the point of view of protecting the environment and climate. This
point was most recently acknowledged in the Green Paper on Renewable Sources of Energy (COM(96) 0576
final). Effective measures to promote renewable energy and ensure its rapid introduction into the market are
therefore essential. In Germany, the Electricity Grid Feed Act has for years served as an efficient means to this
end, enabling more than 1600 MW of wind power capacity to be installed within six years. The success of this
legislation is incontestable, but at the same time it has met with opposition from the monopolistic German energy
industry, which suddenly found itself exposed to unwelcome competition on the energy production side.

1. What is DG XI(cid:146)s view of the dispute about state aid in connection with the Electricity Grid Feed Act and
Commissioner Van Miert(cid:146)s letter of 26 October 1996 to Germany(cid:146)s Federal Minister for Economic Affairs?

2.

At what juncture, if any, did DG XI communicate its opinion to DG IV?

3.
Does Directorate-General XI agree that the (cid:145)polluter pays(cid:146) principle referred to in Article 130r(2) of the
EC Treaty permits the creation of instruments enabling any additional costs of environmentally benign energy
production to be shared among all electricity consumers, as provided for, for example, by the Electricity Grid
Feed Act in Germany in the case of renewable energy?

4. What is Directorate-General XI(cid:146)s view of the role of renewable energy in fulfilling the European Union(cid:146)s
climate  protection  obligations?  Are  not  aid  measures  to  promote  the  introduction  of  renewable  energy  into
markets needed to perform this duty?

Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission

(2 July 1997)

The Commission would point out to the Honourable Member that it acts collectively in accordance with its rules
of procedure (1).

Renewable energy has a number of positive impacts on the environment which other sources of energy do not
possess. Reasonable levels of subsidies are in principle in line with the polluter pays principle as long as the
consumer in the long run bears the full-costs of consuming electricity. Such support is also allowed according to
the Commission guidelines on state aid for environmental protection.

The German law (cid:145)Stromeinspeisegesetz(cid:146) has a particular system of compensation for the additional costs of wind
energy that goes from one player in the electricity industry to another. This compensation is estimated to be
higher than the additional costs of electricity from new wind power plants. From an environmental perspective it
is not recommendable to compensate more than the additional costs of electricity from wind power since this
would imply that the consumer is not bearing the full costs of electricity generation and would therefore consume
more  electricity  than  necessary.  In  that  sense  this  would  run  counter  to  the  polluter  pays  principle.  In  a
deregulated electricity market such aid may not be sustainable if it leads to unfair competition between domestic
renewable  energy  and  imported  renewable  energy  such  as  hydropower.  Other  methods  to  make  support  less
distortive have therefore been proposed to the German authorities.

Support  to  renewable  energy  forms  part  of  the  Community  strategy  for  climate  change.  As  noted  by  the
Honourable Member, the Commission published a green paper outlining a strategy to increase the penetration of
renewable energy sources (2).

(1)  OJ L 230, 11.9.1993.
(2)  COM(96) 576.